Thruway Authority has post-toll hike-vote challenges

Authority leaders need to address expenses, canal

With a hastily rescheduled meeting of the state Thruway Authority planned for Tuesday, final pleas are being made that its seven members forgo, or at least lower, a proposed 45 percent toll hike for most trucks. Whatever its decision, the Authority faces two bigger challenges: getting a better handle on its fiscal management and realizing more revenue from the state's canal system, which it oversees.

The Authority says the proposed increase - which would see Albany-to-Buffalo tolls for commercial truckers jump from about $62 to almost $90 - would generate up to $90 million a year. It would also throw an anchor onto New York's burgeoning economic recovery, particularly in western New York, where 90 percent of goods are shipped by truck.

Clearly, the Authority can't keep going to the toll-hike well. Tuesday's increase would be the fifth since 2005, and it's no coincidence that traffic on the 570-mile thoroughfare has declined some 10 percent over that period.

That's one reason revenues haven't kept pace with expenses. The Authority has also borrowed heavily (it is carrying some $3.7 billion in debt) and been too optimistic in traffic projections (2011's were off by 12 percent).

The Authority also must make better use of the canal system, which costs more than $80 million a year to operate but generates only about $2 million. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli wisely urged an independent analysis focusing on streamlined operations and identifying new funding streams.

There has been talk of removing the canal system from the Authority's purview, although that could be simply moving the problem. Still, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to restructure the state's tourism efforts, so the timing may be right for such a discussion.

Either way, a proposed toll hike should have been the Authority's last resort. Leaders must explore the less-traveled roads of better fiscal management and, while they retain oversight, identifying creative funding opportunities from the canal.